Hi.

Feb 11 Valentines sweet fun

Good morning, Today the sun is shining spring is in the air, and hopefully a little romance to. Its just three more days till Valentines day, a perfect chance to allow your romantic side to make an appearance.

But before we begin with all that said, who needs a valentines day to make an excuse for romance, we all need a bit of love and romance everyday don't you think?

So here is a fun romantic bake that we want to suggest you could do anytime of year, we're just posting it for Valentines so we can say there's our Valentine post.

To Make these you need some tiny paper cases, I got mine from Lakeland plastics but I'm sure you will find them in most well stocked supermarkets.

I use the simple cake recipe

100g Butter

100g Castor sugar

100g self raising flour

2 eggs.

As I often say in other recipes I usually double this or sometimes triple, so that I can make a big batch of cakes. You can also freeze them and defrost as you need them.

I tend to mix all the ingredients in a mixer but you can do by hand creaming the butter and sugar first, then adding the eggs then flour.

Once you have your lovely cake mixture ready spoon into the cases using a teaspoon so you don't get mess all round the case. its a delicate job since theres not much space to fill.

You might think that the cooking time would be less for these little cakes, but they seemed to take around the same amount of time as a regular size cake, but ovens vary so keep a watchful eye on them so they don't over bake. I tend to cook at 170-80 c for around 15-20 mins.

Once they are baked leave them out to cool then you are ready to decorate.

I filled a piping bag with freshly made butter cream, a simple recipe 50g butter and 100g icing sugar creamed together. you will need to double or even triple recipe again. Butter icing keeps well in fridge for a few days so you can always make ahead of time. You also need these fun Love heart sweets.

Swirl a little rosette of butter icing on each cake and add your fun love heart sweet messages and add some other sprinkles to decorate.

I managed to find a perfect cardboard container for them, perfect for taking into the office.

Wrapped up with a pretty love ribbon these would make a lovely gift for someone. Davinder took these into the office and they were enjoyed by his team and probably brought a cheerful smile to everyone.

Hmm! I'm just wondering if he actually shared them? looks like he's keeping that box to himself right there.

They are the perfect little bite size cake, No calorie counting here please!

served on a pretty little plate with extra packets of sweets makes them all the more attractive.

These cakes would also be great as wedding favours or bridal shower favours, or even a girlie birthday party.

Whatever you do this Valentine, I hope it gives you a chance to be creative with a bit of baking and that you get to spend it with the one you love.